Martinsburg herald. [volume] (Martinsburg, W. Va.) 1881-1920, 1887-07-30
SELECTIONS.
LAUGH, PAPAI"
BUT PAPA DID NOT LAUGH, AND
THE CHILDISH APPEAL WAS
NEVER MADE AGAIN.


i NEVER MADE AGAIN.
1t was a cold, foggy, rainy day in
February, at railway station IN
the wildwoods of Arkansaw. No
place in Christendom could be more
gloomy, more dIspiriting. The red
flag on the platform, signal to the
train to stop in its flight through the
dismal hiatus between two villages
long enough to take us aboard, hung
limp and detected on its staff; the
agent and telegraph operator work
ed vigorously at his key and was
deaf to all questioning; the room
where people was supposed to wait
in reasonable comfort was chairless
and sleeveless, long, hard bench
being the only relief for the man
who might wish to vary the monoto-
ny of standing or pacing the floor.
The only suggestion OF snugness
was made by Bible that laid on a
bracket against the wall, and all
agreed it was the most supercillous
book that ever looked down from its
high estate upon woebegone hui
mainly.
One of our party was "a gray-hair,
ed man, old but strong, slovenly
dressed, with profusion of shirt
front well painted with tobacco
juice, a deep, kind voice, and black
eyes that shone with intellectual
fire. He was lawyer and jurist,
a man of letters, whose name was
once household word throughout
the State.
When we had partaken of the
misery of the situation to the fullest
extent, we were re enforced by a
native, his wife, and a baby in arms.
The native was long-haired, tall and
lean, dirty of face and ragged of
raiment. He carried rifle which
in length aud general dilapidation
bore a startling resemblance to him
self; having once seen them togeth
er you would recognize them apart.
The wife wore new bonnet and
dress OF coarse but substantial store
bought goods; she was clean as
pin, with a countenance rejecting
that resigned sadness which comes
of long years of uninterrupted house.
hold drudgery. The baby was a
mannikin pitiful to behold; and as
its mother sought to soothe its feeble
fretting the Judge stepped np de-
ferentially, and with the knighthood
OF the true gentleman spoke:
Madam, your baby is IL"
ayes, sir" she replied; "Pm
afeerd it'll never git well. But
we're takin' it up ter town ter see if
the doctor KANT do sumthin' fur it,"
"Will you permit me to nurse it a
little 7"
She replied by giving him the
child. Holding it in both hands he
gently lifted it up and down. 1t
seemingly went to sleep, and for
half an hour he held it, gazing in
tently into its pain-pinched face.
Then 1t awoke, and opening its big
eyes, that looked at him from deep
sockets, made an effort as if to pluck
his hand. Smiling the semblance of
a smile, it closed its eyes again.
The shadow of dark Azrael's wings
passed over its features at this in
slant; the judge returned ii to its
mothers bosom, and with tears
streaming down his brown cheeks.
kissed the little waif, as he SAID:
"Mother, you babe will soon suffer
no more: it is dying"
And when he had comforted the
stricken woman, and shaken the
husbands hand in manly sympathy,
he composed the little form upon the
rude settee-and then went out to
see if the ears we're in sight.
"Judge,n l remarked, when we
were comfortably seated in the train,
"we all know your kindness of
heart; but your practical ministra.
tions to that poor woman were I'M.
usual exhibitions, as general rule.
Such noble actions are seldom seen.v
81 do not claim to be better than
other men," he replied; but have
sacred incentive to such conduct
as you have just witnessed. Ineyer
see little child in pain, or troubled
through any cause, that am not at
once its protector and defender.
iShall tell you why 2"